It was a beautiful sunny day in Paragon City, especially Atlas Park, and a hero in standard street clothes was just standing around, reading a newspaper, and pretty much catching up on local news.
"Would ya look at that...the Paragon Heroes lost again. Man, our team sucks."
That hero's pager beeped, and he quickly dashed to the E.L.I.T.E. offices of Atlas Park, hoping that he wouldn't get much of a reprimand, like all the other times. He arrived merely seconds after the message was sent, and shocked the hero liaison there, her not expecting him so fast.
"Do you HAVE to do that every time you come in?"
"Hey, you know as well as I do that I have to keep alert at all times, and surprise arrivals are what I do best."
The hero liaison did not smile, in fact, she outright frowned. It would seem she was not happy about something.
"Shin Hat Man, when one of our contacts sent you on a mission to stop the Clockwork from violating Skulls turf so we don't have that much casualties, you do remember being told to stop them as fast as possible, correct?"
"Well, yeah, and I did."
"I know you did, in fact, that's what I want to talk to you about. Did you have to set that warehouse on fire!?"
Shin Hat Man, unlikely hero if there ever was one, honestly, didn't know what to say for that one. So he went for the cute answer.
"Erm...oops?"
"Oops!? One of the biggest fires that Atlas Park has seen in the past two years, not counting the Rikti War, was caused by you, and ALL YOU HAVE TO SAY IS OOPS!?"
"Hey! Give credit where credit's due, they were all stopped and I even managed to get a superadine lab next to that warehouse."
"Yes, but by doing that, you almost got a hundred workers killed!
She paused to get a glass of water, and Shin Hat Man, while having some regrets, honestly didn't want to get chewed out another time.
"Listen. I've got a hard time justifying E.L.I.T.E.'s role in the Federal Bureau of Super-Powered Affairs. There's a lot of the other people that's just calling us a weaker Malta group, and public opinion really isn't on our side because we're not always that flashy. We don't need a rogue vigilante that can't use his powers responsibly!"
"Hey! You know as well as I do that my powers had nothing to do with that incident!"
"Maybe, but you used your amazing tactical knowledge to know where to plant those explosives for maximum damage instead of figuring out a way to get the Clockwork out of there like the contact told you to. Anyway, I didn't call you here for that."
"And why did you call me here?"
"You see, there's a new liaison in Atlas. Have you heard of F.O.R.C.E.?"
The look of terror was on Shin Hat Man's face.
"Hey wait! I'm not a criminal!"
"Honestly, we should have locked you up a long time ago. Anyway, orders came from above the E.L.I.T.E. chain that you are to work under the orders of Powerfrost for a while, and help out the reformed criminals with strategy and tactics. I know that, for some of them, just being in F.O.R.C.E. is a battle in it's own right, and like you did in a lot of times before, they want you to turn the tide of that battle. Besides, a lot of them probably need support on the field, and I know you can give it to them."
"Yeah, but still...F.O.R.C.E."
"It's that, or we take away your Hero License and we lock you up for arson."
Was the choice that hard?
"Where's the F.O.R.C.E. section...?"
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((OOC : Holy crap. That sucked. Once I get some interaction going, should be better.))
